Avocado Review. A Vegetarian Cafe in Moscow

Avocado, the vegetarian cafe, is located in the very centre of Moscow. Originally I was in the neighbourhood because I wanted to see the new Christmas/New Years lighting that was all up in the Chistye Ponds area, it was wonderfully beautiful, however, I was getting cold, so I started looking around for places to drink or eat something warm and comforting, and just to get my body temperature back to norm, after being in the freezing cold of +1C. To my luck, I looked across the road and saw the green signs of the “Avocado”. Before I went in, I scrolled through the online reviews of the place, as I am quite serious about this stuff, when I am in Moscow. After feeling satisfied with the reviews, I crossed the road, and stepped into the warmth of the first ever vegetarian place I have ever been.

I was seated right away, and given the menu.

The place looks very small from the inside, and there aren’t more than maybe ten tables in total, however, I did notice the area on the right, which I believe hosted a private party. Anyway, Moscow citizens are very big on their greens, so maybe that’s why there weren’t crowds of people when I arrived.

I decided to order a starter and a main. I went for the fried spinach balls with cream sauce (Dorblu), which is in the appetizers section and costs 370RUB which is, if you compare it with other Moscow restaurants, is a bit steep. But when they brought them over, I was really surprised, as the portion was quite large, and when I finished with those spinach balls, I was already full.

The interior started to grow on me too, especially because of the pretty fairy lights and the lovely candles all around.

As I was contemplating whether I should eat my fusilli pasta with Spirulina and crushed walnuts, my waiter Maxim, who turned out to be a lovely gentleman, and someone who knew what he was doing, brought me my sea buckthorn tea with chilli peppers, and honey. It was probably the highlight of my dinner here, as I was first questioning Maxim about whether I should get chilli in my tea or not, and him making his own version of the tea, which I thought, was extremely nice, as he went out of his way to make me happy, and for this I’m absolutely grateful. The sea buckthorn, which is a staple berry and drink in many Russian cities, contains a ton of vitamin C, and when you add honey and now even some fresh chilli into it, it becomes a powerful healthy drink, which I absolutely recommend to anyone.

This drink made me feel really good, although it was very sour, as it should be, hence vitamin C, as you already know, but some honey to it, and it’ll be wonderful. It also made me think of my childhood, and our own sea buckthorn trees we used to grow for ourselves. We rarely did anything with the berries, to be honest, but even looking at them all orange in sight, they made you quite happy. I hope it makes sense. I was also thinking of maybe getting a wheatgrass shot, but I remembered what it tasted like In Los Angelese, where I tried it for the first time, so I decided not to!

Then Maxim brought me my pasta with sun-dried tomatoes on top, and I realised I could not eat it as I was absolutely full. I did try a few bites though.

Overall, it was quite lovely, however, I thought it was a tad dry to my liking, and lacked all the salt in the world. Savoury tooth girl here! So I apologized to Maxim and asked to pack it for me as a takeaway. He was most helpful and made me feel even better about myself and Moscow (maybe Russia in general too), as you know, Russian waiters aren’t always so nice (read my previous post about the Chinese in London, controversial I know).

I went home, glancing at the Avocado once again, I noted how lovely it must be in summer here.

To sum up, I loved the location – it couldn’t be more central, and even though the interior is on the simpler side, the food was good, as well as the portions. Some hardcore healthy eaters would say that spinach fried in breadcrumbs isn’t healthy, but you know, vegetarians also need to be a bit savage, don’t you think? They do offer vegan versions of dishes, and food for raw eaters too, so if you’re desperate for that green deliciousness, come here, I say.

I, not being a vegetarian, nor vegan, liked it here quite a lot. Do come here, try it for yourself.